London Calling
by batarians
Summary: "What is it, Anderson?" she asked, never taking her hand away from the blue box. "Hope," he answered.


London was in flames. Earth was burning.

Smoke, rubble, bodies. This was the infliction of the Reapers; their parting gift as they left your planet burning. A few years back, the sight might have turned Commander Shepard's stomach. Now it only fuelled her anger.

She wasn't afraid of dying. She had simply never been. Failure was the thing that drove her closest to fear, if that was even the right word. Commander Shepard would do anything to avoid failure - and it showed.

She'd lost countless innocents to reach her goals, and she couldn't force herself to regret a single second.

The surrounding chaos was nothing out of the ordinary. Blood-curdling screams tore through the air as Reaper scouts fed off their conscious victims. It was a cruel fate, but their deaths served as a welcome distraction to the enemy: a good feed was too much of a temptation for the monsters. Shepard had grown to take what she could get; to accept advantage when it was given.

Crouching low behind a fragment of concrete wall, once part of a tall, impressive building, Shepard weighed up her options.

The field before her had been suitably named "No Man's Land." The Alliance had thrown countless squads in, hoping to breach the enemy's defences, but the troops had only served as fodder. Their corpses littered the expanse, making the terrain even more difficult to cross.

It wasn't heavily reinforced, but Shepard knew that as soon as she sent one of her own people out there, it would be swarming with creatures within moments. The Reapers weren't simple machines; they were smarter by tenfold. Shepard knew how to spot a trap, and this one was particularly gruesome.

She hesitated for the first time that night, her gaze lingering on a stray husk lumbering through the pit of bodies. She thought back to Akuze, to the mistakes she'd made, and to the mistakes they'd _all_ made. This would not be another Akuze. She would not fail.

'We should-' she started, turning to her crew as she spoke. Her words were interrupted by a crackling over her suit's communications. The static was nearly deafening.

'Shepard,' Admiral David Anderson's voice was warm and familiar in her ear; a reassurance amidst all of her doubts. 'Get...back...changed...now.' The Reapers were interfering with their signal, but she heard enough to know what Anderson wanted.

He wanted them to retreat.

'Fuck,' she muttered to herself, shifting her weight around uncomfortably. No amount of training could prepare a person for how much _crouching_ you did on the field.

'Commander?' Javik was suddenly beside her, his face set into an expression not unlike a frown. 'We are leaving?'

Under normal circumstances, she might have argued with Anderson. Hell, she _would _have. They'd come so far; it had taken them hours to reach their current position. A lot of Alliance lives had been sacrificed to get her team through the city unharmed.

It wasn't just that bothering her. They'd come so far; they were so close to the target. So close to finishing this thing. But Anderson had survived this long; he had to know what he was doing. Aside from that, he was her _friend - _probably the only damn friend she had left. She knew he wouldn't be asking this of her if it wasn't necessary.

She closed her eyes and exhaled in a poor attempt to calm herself. 'Orders are orders.'

Kaidan cursed - Shepard heard him over their internal communications. He was nearby, taking cover as he tried to pin down a couple of Reaper stragglers. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Anderson came in again, the connection clearer. 'Commander. Commander Shepard, do you copy?'

'Sir,' she acknowledged. 'You want us back there?'

There was a short moment of hesitation. 'Yes. There's something you need to see.'

'We're hot, sir - we can't just turn around.'

'You and your squad need to head back to base as quickly as you can. Getting back here is now your top priority, Commander.'

'But, sir-'

'The mission's changed. This could save Earth.'

Shepard sighed, feeling her back slump against the wall behind her. She rubbed the bridge of her nose between her forefinger and thumb, suppressing a yawn.

'You heard the man,' she said, looking up at a pissed-off Javik through her fingers. 'We're heading back.'

* * *

'I still don't see why we're abandoning all these people!' Kaidan was livid. The three of them stood by the threshold of No Man's Land, having quickly cleared out the remaining husks after Anderson gave his orders.

'Orders are orders,' Shepard repeated, the words tasting feeble on her tongue. Kaidan saw through her words and scoffed.

'Since when did you follow orders?'

'This is different,' she snapped, 'Anderson said it - whatever it is - could save Earth.'

'We're _already_ saving Earth.'

She almost laughed. She looked around at the cityscape, seeing nothing but flames and ruin. 'You think this is what victory looks like?'

Kaidan had no answer.

'We're leaving,' she said tersely, pushing past him and Javik. 'You can stay and die, for all I care. Anderson wants my help, and I'm going to help him.'

* * *

Their 'base' was little more than a room. A dilapidated room at that.

It was a makeshift war room. Maps were sprawled across the ruined walls and their tables were made from whatever rubble and broken furniture they could find. Earlier on, when Shepard had first seen the room, it had been full with Alliance personnel.

Walking in for the second time, she found only Anderson and Major Coats. Coats had impressed her with his inspirational words, but she knew it was only talk. She could see the same fear and doubt in his eyes that she had seen countless times. But she appreciated the effort nonetheless.

'Hold up.' Coats held his hand up, shaking his head slowly. 'Commander, your squad have to wait outside.'

Kaidan bristled. 'Are you kidding m-'

Shepard put a hand on his shoulder, interrupting him with nothing more than her touch. He stopped in his tracks, his eyes meeting hers with anger.

_I'll tell you everything, _she wanted to promise him, hoping she could convey her unspoken words with a simple look.

She held his gaze. Whatever translated between them worked, and soon Kaidan visibly relaxed. 'We'll be outside the doors,' he promised, nodding to Javik as they turned to leave. 'Shout if you need us.'

'Of course,' she said.

* * *

Anderson was strangely quiet. His brow seemed heavier than normal, the frown on his face deepening with every second gone by. He looked old beyond his days.

War did that to a person.

Coats was pacing, slapping his rifle against his thigh repeatedly. It was just enough to make a noise. Just enough to irritate her; to set her on edge, as if she wasn't enough already.

'What the hell is going on?' she asked, after a few agonising moments of silence.

Anderson's averted gaze was her only answer. Coats cleared his throat. 'I'm not entirely sure myself, Commander. We're waiting.'

'Waiting? We're waiting? What are we waiting for?' She felt her anger rise, threatening to spill over. '_Do you understand what we left behind to be here?_'

'More than you know, Commander.'

She spat at the ground by Coats' feet, and the world shifted.

It was not dissimilar to the feeling of being beside a biotic singularity. Space bended and twisted. The air grew thick, then thin, then thick again. Her eyes struggled to see straight; everything was blurred. The walls span.

There was a strange roar. It was a sound so loud, yet so unfamiliar and alien that it intrigued her. By no means was it a pleasant sound, but her curiosity stopped her from covering her ears. She simply stood there, staring at the area of space that bent and folded into itself. It was nothing she had ever seen before.

Major Coats was by the doors, covering his ears and wincing. He was struggling with this more than her. Anderson was a different story; his eyes were wide with interest, not shock. There was not a single part of his expression that betrayed any fear or surprise, only curiosity and...something more. She couldn't pick just what.

This had to be it. Anderson was expecting it. This _was _it.

But what exactly was _it_? A weapon? A power?

Shepard flicked through the possibilities in her head, but the anomaly allowed her little time. With a final shift, a final groan, the entire room flashed bright - Shepard shielded her eyes with her forearm, squinting against the harsh light. When is dissipated, she blinked back the spots across her vision, feeling utterly disoriented.

'What is that?' Coats was the first to notice, but Shepard was not long to follow.

Her eyes immediately sought the source of the light, finding a blue box no larger than a shower cubicle sitting innocently in the corner of the room. Sitting there as if it belonged there. As if nothing was unusual about it.

She approached the box, her left hand outstretched. She ran her hand across its intricate surface, surprised to find that it was constructed with wood. _Wood__. _She hadn't seen wood in years, let alone felt its rough, imperfect surface. It was such a petty and insignificant thing to make her smile, but it did.

Despite everything, she smiled.

'What is it, Anderson?' she asked, never taking her hand away from the box.

'Hope,' he answered.


End file.
